ISLAND’S OLDEST MOTOR SPORT EVENT THIS WEEKEND

Preparations are well under way for the 4 x 4 June Safari, to be run by the Barbados Rally Club (BRC) on Saturday (June 26); it is the second round of the Club’s increasingly popular Ruf 'n' Tuf Navigational Championship, sponsored by Barbados Garment Industries.
This year’s June Safari will be the 47th running of the event – formerly known as the June Rally – which makes it the oldest organised motor sport event in Barbados . . . possibly even in the Caribbean.
It will start at Black Bess Quarry in St Peter at 2.00pm, finishing roughly nine hours later at the Vaucluse Raceway in St Thomas; the event will consist of two routes, each covering about 60 kilometres, with a stop-over between.
Competitors will travel through the parishes of St Peter, St George, St Philip, St Joseph and St Andrew, using a wide variety of navigation systems - tulip, BRC, photography (non-aerial) and herringbone (or straight line.)
Entries for the 4 x 4 June Safari will open at the briefing meeting, to be held at Kendall Sporting Clays at 7.00pm on Wednesday (June 23), and will close on Friday (June 25) at 4.00pm.
Persons interested in assisting in the marshalling of the event, and helping in direction checks, should contact route-setter Derek Gill at 427-4547. It is not necessary to have a four-wheel-drive vehicle at your disposal for marshalling.
Last year’s event was a family affair - driving the Autozone/CITGO Mazda B2500, husband and wife team Leslie and Annalee Alleyne completed the two routes with only 100 penalties, beating Biddy Barber and son Brett into second place; they had collected 300 penalties in the Biddy’s Visitors Information Daihatsu Feroza. Timmy Mahon and Kirk Watkins (Isuzu Pickup) finished equal third overall to win the event’s Novice Group, while the highest-placed female team was the pairing of Keri-Dawn Watkins and Lisa Roett in the Toyota RAV4.
Originally a navigational event, with drivers required simply to follow a pre-drawn route on a map, the June Rally evolved through the decades into a more challenging event, including special stages, but eventually reverted to the navigational rally format; four years ago, it became the 4 x 4 off-road event it is today.

For further information, robin@bradfax.com